An Introductory Course in Badass
by HopeyMcHope
Summary: Yuno and Yukiteru have been branded fugitives. Now they're running from both the five other diary users left AND every cop in the city. To make matters worse, one half of the fugitive duo is a harmless cinnamon roll, which ultimately forces Yuno to finally start teaching him how to stay alive. Takes place on 6/12 during episode 11 of the series, "Service Terminated."
1. Born to Run

_Yukiteru Amano had always been emotional. Some even called him a crybaby. Years ago, the other kids had bullied him relentlessly for his weaknesses. They drove him to retreat into himself and choose isolation over ridicule. He'd gone for years without having or making friends because he didn't want to get hurt when they inevitably turned on him and mocked him._

 _He didn't feel any shame about crying now, though._

 _Standing on the rooftop of police headquarters, facing a death by either the armed cops behind him or the hard pavement five stories down... it seemed like a damn fine time to cry._

 _Yuno had tried to comfort him. She'd smiled, leaned in and kissed him. And then she pushed inward on his arm, shoving his body sideways, and made the decision for him._

 _As he felt himself tilt sideways and plummet, he felt a sick sense of relief. At least falling was the faster choice. And at least if he was going to die young, a mutual suicide with someone that loved him made for a memorable way to go._

* * *

It was a long way down from the top of Sakurami Police Headquarters, but it passed for Yuki in mere seconds. He had almost no time to prepare for what seemed like inevitable death before a _fwa-lump_ sound enveloped him and he opened his eyes to see Yuno there in front of him, a satisfied smile on her face.

They were atop a beige canvas covering the top of a truck. More importantly, they were alive — just as Yuno had clearly expected them to be.

Before he could say anything to her, Yuno ordered him " _Move!_ "

She wasted no time in grabbing Yuki's wrist and leaping down to the pavement, pulling him down from the truck with her. As soon as his feet hit the ground awkwardly, she instantly turned and dove back underneath the truck, yanking him with her.

Yuki yelped "Erk!" as he felt himself jerked down onto his back with a _thud_ , then pulled underneath the back of the truck.

Yuno cringed in sympathy. "Sorry!" she stage-whispered. "I hope I didn't hurt you, baby... "

Yuki rubbed his eyes with one hand, still trying to get the tears out of them while also getting his bearings. That entire maneuver of hers took maybe a second — too fast for Yuki to be comfortable. He felt like he'd damn near gotten whiplash.

Once his eyes could see clearly once more, he looked over at his companion and asked, "Yuno, what the _hell_?!"

"Shhhhh," she warned him. She had flipped her phone open and was checking it. "That guy up there, Nishijima? He's definitely gonna look down here and try to spot us. He's probably doing it right now. I didn't want him knowing where we're headed, so we had to disappear — mess with his head a little."

"Mess with his head?" Yuki repeated, still confused. He shook his head quickly, attempted to focus, and opted to ask the easiest question. "Where _are_ we going?"

"Beats me!" she confessed. She sounded oddly cheery about her lack of a plan. Yuno continued, "Somewhere far from here, at least... okay. That should be long enough."

"Long enough for _what_?" Yuki demanded.

Yuno didn't answer, because she was already climbing out from under the truck. "Come on, Yuki!" she called back. "We need to get going before Nishijima has the cops on the ground floor crawling all over us!"

Yuki grunted as he crawled out from beneath the truck and got back to his feet. Once he was upright, Yuno pointed to a line of trees surrounding a park that was caddy-corner to the northwest of the police HQ. "We'll cut through the park," she said decisively. "Let's go!"

Yuno took the lead, with Yuki jogging at a fast clip behind her. He nervously glanced towards the double doors of police headquarters — still closed and free of police at the moment — as they made their way out of the parking lot.

As the pair ran across the street, Yuki noticed that blood was running down Yuno's left arm from the spot where one of the officers had grazed her.

"You're hurt," he observed between breaths. "We need to bandage that up."

"I know," Yuno said firmly. She was all business now — totally locked into combat mode. "We don't want them following a blood trail right to us."

"That's _not_ what I meant," Yuki retorted. He felt offended by her assumption, but only for a moment before she looked back over her shoulder and flashed an affectionate smile.

"It's sweet of you to worry about me," Yuno said to him as she ran. Somehow, she didn't even look winded. "I've already got an idea to stop the bleeding," she assured him.

On the other side of the road, Yuki continued to follow Yuno as she hopped over the sidewalk, stepped onto the adjacent grass, and ducked into the line of trees at the edge of the park. Once Yuki made it beneath the shadows of the wooded area, he hazarded another look back. This time, he saw the doors to the station burst open, with three cops quickly emerging. Yuki didn't see if there were more behind them; he quickly returned his focus to Yuno.

She was sticking to the outer rim of the park, where the exterior line of trees kept them in the shadows and hidden from obvious sidewalks and street lamps. Unfortunately, that also meant that Yuki was struggling to see where he was going at times. The best he could do was try to follow her movements as he went.

With each step, he could feel the handle of the pistol he took from one of the officers digging harder and harder into his side. It was held against him by the waistband of his pants, and the cold pain it provided was a constant reminder of the cop he'd shot in the stairwell.

Yuki felt nauseated as he repeatedly relived the moment in his mind. _Oh god_ , he thought. _Did I really kill an innocent police officer?! Forget the diary users — The_ police _will kill me now. Even if I live long enough to be arrested, I'll get the death penalty for sure! Was this Kurusu's plan all along? Threaten to kill me just so Yuno would attack him, and we'd be forced to escape? Turn us into fugitives so that we're fair game for every cop in town?! God damn it, why did he betray us?!_

Yuki swallowed hard and tried to ignore the thoughts swirling in his mind. As he watched Yuno deftly maneuver between two trees, he knew she was his only hope for getting out of this.

 _I've got to put my faith in Yuno_ , he thought. _Whatever else is going on with her, I know how much she cares about me. She's cares more about protecting me than herself, and she's never let me down before._

After half a minute of struggling to keep pace with Yuno, he tripped over an exposed root, pitching forward slightly as he made a grunt of surprise. He regained his footing without his hands hitting the ground, but he had to pause for a second to steady himself.

Yuno quickly noticed and doubled back a few steps to be by his side as he recovered. "Sorry sweetie," she said quietly. "I'll try to call out obstacles from now on."

"It's... it's okay," Yuki told her as he tried to catch his breath. "I'm just not so good at running in the dark."

He reached into his jacket and began to take out his phone, but Yuno grabbed his wrist quickly and held it firm. He looked at her with confusion and asked, "What? Shouldn't I check the future?"

"You _can't_ ," she answered. "The light from your phone could give away our position. You've got to think more strategically."

"Oh, um... right," Yuki said sheepishly. He let go of his phone, and Yuno simultaneously released his wrist.

 _Jeez, how can stay so sharp at a time like this_ _?!_ he wondered.

Yuno's attention was immediately drawn to something over his shoulder. She turned her head slightly, tilting the side of her head towards Yuki without losing her focus in that direction.

He followed her gaze to find absolutely nothing waiting behind him. At least, nothing that he could see.

"Uh, Yuno?" he inquired tentatively. "What is it?"

She responded in a whisper, "I thought I heard—wait, there it is again!"

At last he realized that she'd only tilted her head so as to focus one of her ears in the direction they'd run away from. When Yuki did the same, he faintly heard a deep, guttural yell of some kind. "I hear it, too," he told her... although he didn't know _what_ exactly he'd heard.

"Damn it," Yuno whispered. "They brought out the dogs." Yuki immediately knew she was right. Thanks to her pointing it out, he could now recognize the sounds in question had been the echoing barks of multiple dogs far behind them.

Yuno looked down at her wounded arm with disgust, obviously irritated by the line of blood now dripping down to the end of her fingers. "Bet they can smell this from a kilometer off," she said sourly.

Looking around quickly, she spied a building with concrete block walls and a wooden roof that was about 30 meters away from where they stood. It was also, unfortunately, out in the open and pretty well-lit courtesy of a floodlight standing in front of it Regardless, she pointed at it and told Yuki, "There. Head for that restroom. No time to waste!"

She grabbed Yuki's right hand in her left and took off like a shot towards their new target. Yuki was able to keep pace with her now, which told him that she was clearly slowing herself for his benefit.

She kicked the ladies room door open and quickly scanned the stalls. Yuki paused outside. "Uhhh..." he muttered.

When Yuno looked back at him, her face instantly transitioned from a hardened look of concentration to a soft, amused expression. "Jeez, Yuki, _really?_ " she said, cracking into a warm laugh. "You're gonna get shy about the ladies' room at a time like _this_?"

Yuki shrugged and blushed a bit. "Well... yeah, kind of?" he confessed. He stepped inside while he was admitting his discomfort, but that didn't stop the feeling from lingering. "This isn't cool," he explained, feeling embarrassed. "I mean, I don't wanna seem like a pervert... "

As the restroom door closed behind Yuki, Yuno giggled and shook her head at him. "You're such a gentlemen," she said affectionately. With a smile, she headed into one of the stalls.

"W-wait," Yuki said. "Are you taking a potty break, 'cause I can-"

"Not hardly," she answered. Yuki barely had time to take in his environment - a concrete floor, pale seafoam green stall walls and doors, a pair of white pedestal sinks, and a tiny window along the back wall with some thick, wavy-patterned glass for both natural light and privacy - before Yuno stepped back out of the stall, now holding a large wad of toilet paper in her right hand. She looked back to Yuki and smiled again as she began wrapping around the paper around the wound on her left arm. "This will stop the bleeding until we can find something better," she assured him.

"Oh," Yuki said. The solution seemed obvious now, yet he still felt impressed that she was able to think of it. "I gotta ask: How do you stay so calm when things like this happen? Every time someone's after us or we're surrounded by trouble, you take charge... and you always know exactly what to do."

Yuno was the one blushing now. "I don't know _exactly_ ," she said shyly as she glanced away. "I just... I do well under pressure, is all."

"No kidding," Yuki said in a deadpan tone. "I mean, back on the rooftop. Did you see the truck below us before you jumped? I never noticed it."

"My diary told me that one," she said. "It said you'd be completely safe if we jumped, and we were. No Dead End for me, either, so I knew I'd survive it, too."

"B-but even if you survived you still could've gotten hurt," Yuki said. "What if you'd missed the center of the canvas and broken your legs on the edge or something?"

Yuno shrugged. "So?"

Yuki shook his head in disbelief. _Just like back at the Omakata cult with sixth or at my house with fifth — she always prioritizes me above herself._

 _She can't_ really _be willing to risk her life all because of a few words we exchanged after class one day, can she? There's gotta be more to it..._

"Speaking of diaries, this would be a good time to check them," Yuno advised as she removed her phone from her the pocket of her jeans. "We need to make sure can make a clean break back into the trees without the cops catching us." She turned her phone to show Yuki its contents and gave him a sweet smile. "Looks like my Yuki's in the clear!"

Yuki smiled a little bit back at her and took the cue to withdraw his own phone from his jacket.

It read:

"6/12 22:09  
Yuno's been shot! She's still breathing. Police are cuffing her."

"Oh _crap_ ," Yuki said aloud. He looked up at Yuno with fear in his eyes. "They're gonna shoot you!"

* * *

 **If you found this, then thanks for reading! I currently expect this to last round four or five chapters that will take us through the gap between the night of 6/12 and the evening of 6/13 on the show, so I hope you'll stick around.**


	2. Ourselves Alone

He pivoted and ran for the door to the restrooms. "We gotta run!" he yelled back to her.

He was shoving the door open and racing through it as Yuno yelled from behind him: "Yuki, _wait_!"

Yuki stumbled into the open at an angle from the door, then stopped beneath the floodlight. He intended to double back into the ladies' room and listen to her plan, but-

"Freeze!"

Yuko eyes bulged. His pulse raced. He turned 45 degrees to his left and saw a dark-skinned, dark-haired police officer pointing his pistol directly at him from roughly three meters off.

 _Oh crap,_ he thought. _Oh NO. I panicked, I screwed up again, and now it'll come true-_

"Raise your hands slowly," the officer said. He was tall, skinny and balding, with his hat riding higher on his head than most of the other officers Yuki had seen.

Yuki swallowed hard. _Can't reach for my gun without getting myself shot._ He raised his hands obediently, taking care to move as slowly as possible.

There was a noise from the ladies' room that sounded like a loud crash. Yuki glanced to the side, but took care not to move his head.

Evidently, the cop heard the noise as well. "That girlfriend of yours in the ladies' room?" the officer asked.

Yuki shook his head nervously. "N-no!" he claimed. "W-we got separated... "

"Uh-huh," the cop responded, eyeing Yuki suspiciously. "Get down on your knees, kid, and I'll check for myself."

Yuki nodded quickly and began to squat, putting one knee down first. _Crap crap crap,_ he thought frantically. _Gotta think of something_ fast _before he can-_

"Hey, cop!" called a familiar voice from above them.

Both Yuki and the officer looked up towards the roof of the building for a split-second — the latter lifting his head _just_ fast enough for Yuno's knee to catch the bridge of nose as she dropped onto him.

His head jerked back and he let out a cry of pain. Yuno managed to grab his shoulders after initial hit, riding him down as he fell forward and slammed face-first into the pavement. To Yuki's great relief, the cop's gun fell from his hands and spun forward, nearly hitting the door to the ladies' room by the time it came to a halt. Y

Yuki grinned and jumped to his feet. "Yuno!" he yelled in delight.

She showed no reaction, focusing her attention on the cop underneath her. Her hands were still on his shoulders and her knees were on his back. She leaned her down so she could speak directly into his left ear, muttering, "Stay down, pig. It'll hurt less if you don't move."

Yuki's joy faded quickly as he watched Yuno reach into the back of her jeans, pull out her pistol, and point it at the back of the cop's head.

"Y-Yuno?!" he asked nervously. "What the _hell_ are you _doing_?"

Yuno's head jerked up to look at him, and that's when he saw it: Her eyes looked dark and bloodshot.

 _No no no no, not this 'psycho mode' crap again_ , he thought desperately.

"Yuno? Um, sweetie?" he ventured carefully. "Y-you can let him go... "

"He's seen us, baby," Yuno said shakily. "He knows what direction we're heading. It's too big a risk."

"We can _change_ direction!" Yuki hissed through gritted teeth. He took a step closer to her.

"Listen girl," the cop on the ground said. "If you think you ca-"

"SHUT UP!" Yuno screamed at him. "I swear to _god_ I will kill you!"

"Th-this will only make things worse," Yuki insisted gently.

"He's right," the cop agreed. "If you murder an officer in cold blood? You'll have the entire city on your ass."

"We already _do,_ you dumb piece of shit!" Yuno responded unevenly. Her voice was shaking as she became increasingly unglued. "Kurusu is bent on _killing_ us!"

Yuki saw that she was focused downward, and he risked stepping a little closer.

" _Detective_ Kurusu?!" the man on the ground asked, sounding uncertain.

"Of-fucking- _course_ ," Yuno growled at him.

He thought silently for a couple of seconds, then added, "Even if that _was_ true, you have my word that you'd get a hundred other uniforms protecting you from him."

"Sure we will," Yuno sneered. "Like your word is worth jack, pig."

Yuki couldn't wait any longer. He reached into the side of his pants and pulled out his own gun, leveling it at Yuno from about two meters away. "Yuno," he said nervously, "I really need you to lower your gun."

Yuno looked at him with wide-eyed disbelief. That expression soon twisted into a confused and deranged grin. "Really, sugar bear?" she said, half-whispering. "You're... threatening _me_?"

"I... " Yuki tried to speak, but felt himself freezing up. Tears were getting in his eyes again. "I don't _want_ to," he told her. "But I need the _other_ you to come back to me. The one that's _calm_."

"Then lower the gun, baby," Yuno said sweetly. Her eyes still looked like she'd popped some blood vessels, making her tone of voice sound less than sincere.

Yuki's hands started to shake. "Y-you first."

Yuno cocked her head to the side a bit. "Is this how it happens?" she asked Yuki quietly, tears streaming from her eyes. "Are _you_ the one that shoots me?"

Yuki stopped breathing. _Oh, GOD no,_ he thought. _I'm the one making it come true... ?_

 _No, no. She's messing with my mind. I have to think of_ something _!_

"Someone's gonna hear this," Yuno told him. She turned her head quickly to her right, where the sound of barking was growing louder from the other side of the restroom building. "The dogs are coming, too," she noted as her voice cracked. She shoved the barrel of the gun hard against the back of the cop's head. "We don't have time to discuss this!"

Instead of lowering his gun, Yuki raised it about 30 centimeters. "You're right," he conceded.

He fired.

The kick of the pistol made Yuki's hands fly up and almost hit his forehead. The sound of the gunshot ripped through the air with a deafening _brrow_ , startling Yuno so much that she jolted backwards and fumbled her gun, dropping it to the pavement.

Yuki stepped forward quickly as he put his gun away, but he wasn't so fast that Yuno didn't get her hands on her dropped pistol first. She scooped it up quickly with her right hand, but Yuki was quickly right there with her, placing his hands over both the gun and her hand.

As he touched his hand to hers, Yuki heard a satisfying _bzzzt_ noise emit from his phone, signifying a change to the future.

He swiftly dropped his left knee atop the police officer, who grunted under the additional weight. Then Yuki looked Yuno in the eyes. She was frowning, looking lost and upset when she locked her gaze with his. Yuki reassured her, "You know I missed on purpose, right? I could _never_ shoot you. I just wanted to surprise you."

Yuno's frown faded, and it turned into a slight smile. "I... you... you _scared_ me," she admitted with a light laugh. "And I'm not scared by much."

Yuki watched her eyes fade back to a lighter shade as their bloodshot edges receded. Relaxing from the tension, he allowed himself to chuckle a bit. "Same to _you_ ," he said with a half-smile. "But if we're being honest? Lately, I'm pretty much scared _all the time_. So don't freak me out so much, okay?"

"Mmm-hmm!" Yuno agreed brightly. She yanked her right hand free of his and tossed in the pistol in the air, flipping it so that she was grabbing by the barrel. "Let's go before we're chew toys, 'kay?"

Yuki jumped off of the cop as he said, "Right."

Still kneeling on top of him, Yuno swung her gun at the back of the officer's head, striking him with the grip with a _kak._ His face smacked the pavement and his limbs went limp as he fell unconscious from the concussion.

"Jesus, Yuno," Yuki grumbled. "Was that really necessary?!"

"If you don't want him sending every cop from HQ straight up our butts, then _yes,_ " she countered. She stood and pointed directly away from the building. "Run straight for the trees, and we should come out of here on the next street over. Make sure to stay directly behind the bathroom building, since it sounds like the dogs and other cops are coming up from the other side. If we're lucky, the structure might block their view of our escape." She quickly shoved the gun into the back of her jeans and grabbed Yuki's left hand in her right. "Looks like maybe 20 meters. You ready?"

Yuki was exhausted, but he took a second to glance at his phone.

"6/12 22:10  
Made it into the trees again. No sign of anyone following. Looks like we weren't seen."

He nodded to no one as he put the phone away in his jacket. Finally, he answered, "Guess so."

Yuno didn't need any more confirmation. She took off, pulling Yuki behind her. Just as it was when they ran towards the building they were now leaving behind, Yuki was able to keep pace with her. That didn't mean he wasn't working hard to do so, however.

He was panting as he asked his companion, "You feeling okay?!"

"Sure!" Yuno confirmed. She was so chipper that she might as well have been chasing an ice-cream truck. "Small headache, but no worries," she added.

Yuki was still thinking about her "psycho mode" outbreak from moments earlier, and he frowned to himself. _Is the headache a side effect of these attacks of hers?_ he pondered. _Can I ask her what came over her? Will she even be able to remember? Would bringing up these shifts just make things worse?_

They raced into the line of trees and stopped, looking back from within the shadows. In the distance, they saw eight officers quickly come around the sides of the restroom building, four approaching from each side. Both groups were led by a dog on a leash. The rightmost group from their vantage point went to the aid of the cop that Yuno had knocked out a minute ago, whereas the other group focused its attention on the entrance to the ladies' room.

Seeing this, Yuno grinned and bit her lower lip with glee. "Hee-hee! Look, they're totally going for it!"

Yuki looked over to her and shook his head in confusion. "What're you talking about?"

She looked over at him with a sly grin and explained, "I used some of the bath tissue to wipe blood from my arm, then left the dirty paper on the floor of the ladies' room. Figured it'd keep the dogs distracted."

Yuki's mouth fell slightly ajar in shock. "Yuno, where the hell do you _get_ this stuff?" he asked. "How can you think so... so... "

She winked at the boy as she pointed her forefinger at her left temple. "I _am_ an honor student, you know!" she boasted.

"My grades weren't too shabby either, but I'm in a blind panic right now!" Yuki said with quiet exasperation. "Doing well in school doesn't explain how you can be so calm or come up with all these strategies whenever we're running for our lives. You did the same thing with the Omakata Cult - you saw through Twelfth's ploy and figured out a plan to attack, distract, and escape in the middle of having multiple attackers on all sides! Somewhere along the line, you had to _train_ for these skills, right?"

Yuno was frowning now, and she shrugged. "Not exactly. Maybe I'm just naturally gifted," she suggested off-handedly.

"At _least_ tell me how you wound up on the roof before you slammed into that cop," Yuki begged.

"It was no big deal," she said casually. "When I heard you talking to the police, I bashed open the window at the back of the ladies' room, then jumped from the window frame to the roof overhead. I'm lucky the police coming from the other side weren't yet in a place to spot me. Anyway, look, we can't stay here."

Yuki was frustrated by how she changed the subject, but that didn't change the fact that she was right. "Fine," he groused. "What's next?"

Wordlessly, Yuno turned and walked away, heading to the outside of the park. Yuki followed her curiously and watched her peek out from behind a tree, then step out onto the sidewalk of the adjacent street.

The two-lane street was largely empty at this hour. As Yuki joined her on the sidewalk, Yuno pointed towards a stoplight roughly 50 meters to their right. "That's what we need," she said.

"And _why_ , again?" Yuki asked. By now he was more frustrated with her mysterious knowledge than anything else.

A silver sedan passed in front of them, pulling up to a stop at the light, which was currently red.

"No good," Yuno murmured.

"What are you babbling about?" Yuki groaned. "Do you ever explain _anything_?"

Yuno started walking towards the stoplight, taking care so as to not move too fast. The next car to pull up at the light was a beige station wagon. It slowed to a halt behind the sedan.

"Better, but still not good enough," Yuno observed. She finally turned to Yuki and smiled at him. "I know you're frustrated with me, sweetie, but I'm just trying to stay focused. We need something we can sneak into and hitch a ride on."

Yuki furrowed his brow. "What, like a truck?"

Yuno nodded. "The bigger, the better." She gestured towards the light and went on, "I'm trying to make sure we're far enough away from the light to easily sneak into whatever comes along. We just need to estimate the distance each vehicle will be from the light, then try to get aligned with where the next one goes."

She finally stopped walking as the next vehicle approached and pulled up slightly ahead of them. This time it was a black SUV. Yuno sighed. "The cops are gonna close the gap pretty fast," she said. "If we don't get something decent soon, we're going to have to run to another street."

Finally, another car approached: a maroon pickup truck. The majority of the bed was piled high with lumber arranged in neat horizontal stacks. Yuno smiled. "We'll have to lay down, but that'll do!"

She backed up a bit so as to be closer to the rear when it came to a halt. As it reached the end of the line at the light, Yuno crouched and gestured to Yuki that he should do the same.

Right as the truck slowed to a stop in front of them, the light turned green. Still crouching, Yuno quickly made her way around the back and vaulted gently into the bed. Yuki followed her lead, but he wasn't comfortable with vaulting in; put his hands on the back and pulled himself onto the bumper carefully just as the truck started to move.

" _Hurry_!" he heard Yuno say from the other side of the tailgate. "Quick and quiet!"

"Uuhhh, y-yeah," Yuki said more to himself than her. As the truck rolled ahead, he braced himself and pulled up hard, quickly throwing himself over the side.

His landing might've made more noise if Yuno hadn't served as crash pad. She only let out an "erf!" when he dropped on her. His face narrowly missed bonking into hers as he fell, just managing to slide to the right side of hers before he stopped.

"S-sorry," Yuki whispered."

Yuno wrapped her arms around his back and giddily responded, "Don't be, baby."

He blushed a bit as Yuno snuggled up against him. _She's so sweet and so cute when she's like this,_ he thought. _And she can bring that side out even when things are this bad..._

Yuki pushed her back slightly so he could look at her and smile — thought it was mostly to get his bearings. He realized that the pile of wood obstructed the driver's rear-view mirror perspective, effectively keeping them hidden unless they sat up to peek over the side of the truck bed. Even so, there was no way for them to know where they were headed.

He slid off of her and rolled to the side a bit. "We gonna just ride this thing until it stops or what?" he asked Yuno.

She rolled to face him and half-shrugged. "The farther we can get from police headquarters, the better. We can always check your phone to see when it's a good for us to get out. Still, we should peek out over the side occasionally, y'know? Make sure we don't accidentally start backtracking."

"Mmm-hmmm," Yuki acknowledged vaguely. He looked around the bed of the truck unconsciously, only faintly registering the splinters rumbling along the bottom. "So can you use your strategic powers to determine where the driver's taking us?"

Yuno closed her eyes in concentration. "Hmmmmm," she hummed. "Based on our current speed and direction, I'd say we're headed... " She opened her eyes suddenly and pointed her right hand towards the cab at front. "Thataway," she said with a smirk.

Yuki chuckled. "Glad to know that being grazed with a bullet didn't injure your sense of humor," he noted.

Yuno smiled cheerily. "Yeah, well, the whole strategy thing only gets you so far," she chirped.

"Even so, I sure wish I could do it," Yuki responded. He took a deep breath. "Could you... teach me some of it?"

Yuno frowned just a bit. "Why?" she asked. "I mean, we're doing fine so far. Right?"

"For certain definitions of 'fine'," he remarked. "I mean, you've gotten us this far, but you haven't done it alone. You might've died on the stairs at my house if I hadn't rushed to help you, and Ninth? Driving her away from the school was definitely a team effort."

"That's more than enough for me," Yuno told him. "You've been a huge help, but I promise I can still protect you. I can handle the brunt of the rough stuff."

"The thing is, _you don't have to_ ," Yuki fired back. _Does she just want me to stay helpless so that I'll still need her?_ he wondered.

Yuno's cheeks went a little pink. "Oh, Yuki... I just don't want you putting yourself any further into harm's way."

"It'll just be as a last resort," Yuki said soothingly. "But the way you can think and fight... you had to get that from somewhere, right? Which means you can also give some of it to me."

Yuno closed her eyes and sighed heavily. The truck hit a bump, causing Yuki to grunt as their bounced along its bed.

"Fine," she said at last. Yuno opened her eyes, which now looked focused and serious. "I guess when we've got this many people gunning for us, it's smart to have backup."

Yuki smiled broadly, content with the agreement. "Thanks! Ah, when do we start?" he pressed.

She continued to stare at him blankly, then blinked once. "Right now," she said flatly.

* * *

 **I wanted to get these first two chapters out there pretty quickly so I could get our duo away from the police and set things up. Since this is during the part of the manga/anime where Yuno was still shown to have a separation between visible "psycho mode" and her sweeter state of being, I wanted to write a little bit of that for fun, too.  
**

 **Updates will be farther apart from here on out — certainly in comparison to having two chapters released on consecutive days — but I'm definitely not abandoning the ship. See you soon!**


	3. Queen's Gambit

Yuno Gasai kept herself crouched low as she leaned against the endcap of the aisle. To her right, she could see the gas pumps outside by peering just over the front rack of snacks in the Tomato Mart. To her left, she saw only the hallway leading down to the restroom and a coffee machine.

She already knew that behind her, at the opposite end of the aisles, was the young clerk of the convenience store. He was stationed behind the counter, where he was paying more attention to a small TV set in the corner than to the physical store. Said TV was unfortunately displaying the feeds from the security camera situated in the center of the store. The telltale inverted black dome in the center of the ceiling was the primary reason why Yuno was hiding at the moment.

The shopping basket hooked over the crook of her left elbow was still light, containing only three bottles of water, a tiny bag of salted peanuts, multiple napkins and some plastic cutlery. Most of the snacks were in the midst of the aisles themselves instead of on the endcaps, so she was forced to get what she could reach to eat and make do with the refrigerators and microwave area if she wanted to stay out of sight.

Yuno focused on her breathing, inhaling and exhaling slowly. The next endcap had some ridged chips with nori and salt flavoring. From there, she could hug the outside aisle by the front window and dash out the door when the time was right. She checked her ponytails, verifying that the one on the left side was pulled behind her back so that it wouldn't swing free, and then leaned slowly around the edge of the current endcap. She locked her left eye on the clerk behind the counter.

He coughed a couple of times, startling her. Yuno had to hold her breath to keep from jolting in place and potentially shuffling her feet, giving away her position. He sniffed. Then again. As he began to look left and right, she tensed her legs. The clerk sniffed a third time, right as he found what he was after: A box of tissues by the back shelf of his station. He reached out for a tissue. His focus was off the camera feed. Any second...

As the clerk used the tissue, she pushed off with both of her legs and did a low lunge across the aisle, landing carefully by the next endcap. There was a bit of a _clap_ accompanying her landing, but it was helpfully covered by the sound of the clerk's nose as he blew into his tissue.

Quickly and quietly, Yuno picked up one of the small bags of chips and lowered it into the basket hanging from her elbow. Still squatting, she duck-walked slowly around the corner.

The frontmost aisle was essentially useless for Yuno's purposes; it was nothing but motor oil, windshield fluid and the like. She took a moment to lift up slightly on her haunches so that she could spy Yuki, who was crouched to one side of the gas pumps out front. She smiled to herself at the sight of him, relieved to see he was still waiting. He seemed relieved to see her, too, and gave her a tiny wave — a small gesture that nevertheless produced a giddy sensation in her chest.

The entrance was a sliding glass door that opened via a silver plate on the ground. On the both sides of that plate sensor were a pair of security sensors. To the right of the farthest one was a stack of large soup cans. On the left-hand side, Yuno saw stacks of unrefrigerated bottled water, wrapped in plastic to be sold as packs of 12. Yuno bit her lower lip and thought for a moment. She had to get the door open to get in, but that had been easy — she only had to set it off a few times from the outside and then duck out of view each time before the clerk had stopped looking for someone to enter and just assumed the external sensor was faulty. Getting it open to get out was going to be the harder course, and that course was made even tougher by those security sensors.

At last, she dropped her legs into a runner's crouch. She had decided.

Jumping up, she quickly kicked the top package of bottled water as hard as she could. It slid off and fell between the security sensors, setting off a " _beep-beep-beep_ " alert even as it crashed down close to the rightmost sensor, landing with a _crunch_ on the silver plate. In the process, the automatic door slid open.

"The hell?" was all the clerk at the counter said. By that point, Yuno was already sneaking back the way she came in a quick duck-walk. She hid by the endcap and peeked out long enough to see him pass by on his way to the front, then quickly scooted down that next-to-last aisle, emerging about a meter behind him as he was looking over the stack of bottled water packages. As she went, she shifted the basket of goods from her right arm to her left.

She had been concerned that she might arrive too late, but instead, he was taking his time to examine the cause of the tumble. Seemingly at a loss, the young man bent over —

— and as soon as he began to lean down, Yuno was up and sliding her feet quickly across the floor, being careful not to lift them as she made her way behind him. He was closest to the rightmost sensor as he wrapped his arms around the package of bottles, his face and head low to the ground. Which meant he was also right by the stack of soup cans. Yuno only had to stand up, grab a can of soup... and drop it right above his head.

The result was a flurry of sound and movement. The can hit him with a _brunk_ , prompting a yelp of "AH SHIT!" that was muffed by how his face slammed into the plastic bottle package with a _wap_ , all of which was mixed with the _beep-beep-beep_ of the security sensor. In the midst of all that, Yuno was able to step quickly and lightly around him and out the door. The security sensor was already going off from the can falling into its range, the door was already held open, and the clerk was both wincing from pain and had his face pushed down — all of which combined to give her a clear path to make off with her stolen goods. She quickly stepped around a trash can a meter away from the entrance and crouched down beside it, grinning in triumph. She looked over at Yuki and tossed him a victorious wave, which he responded to with an uncertain, nervous-looking grin.

Yuno took the time to pluck a plastic bag from the trash can and move all the items she'd taken from the basket over to the bag before she looked around, listened carefully for any sign of someone approaching, and then finally stood up to head over to her boyfriend.

"That was... actually pretty cool," Yuki admitted as she came over. Yuno beamed at him, joyous from the compliment. "I wish we didn't have to steal from anybody, though," he added nervously.

"We don't want anyone identifying us to the police later," Yuno reminded him, a grin still plastered across her face. "That'll just bring them down on us. We can't completely avoid everybody in the city, but we need to at least be sure to avoid face-to-face interactions."

Yuki nodded. "I know, I know." When he peeked down at the contents of her bag, his expression brightened. "All right— salt and nori chips!" he declared happily.

Yuno winked at him flirtatiously. "I knew you'd be happy," she said sweetly. "I've always got a bead on what my sweetie likes. Sorry that I couldn't get more food than this, but at least we won't have to stay on empty stomachs all night."

Reaching into the bag, Yuki pulled out a plastic fork. He lifted it to his face and looked at it quizzically. "What's with the utensils?" he asked. "I... don't think we need them for the peanuts."

"They're for your training, silly!" Yuno answered with a smile. "Speaking of that, could you see everything I was doing in there?"

Yuki turned to look back at the storefront. "I get that you were trying to avoid dome camera," he said. "And you were moving to the ends of the aisles to see the clerk... but how did you know when it was safe to move?"

"Whenever he wasn't looking at me _or_ towards the security monitor," she said. If he looked towards the back of the store, that was good for a second or two. The best times to move were when he would lean his head back and stare the ceiling for a bit — he really lingered there. He also sneezed a couple times, so I knew he'd be unable to see much while he used a tissue."

Yuki nodded. "Right, and you knew he had that habit of leaning back and seemed to have a sniffle because we watched him outside for a bit... " He put a hand on his chin in thought. "So was it really about observation? Did you have the plan for how to get out before you went in there, too?'

Yuno grinned at him. "Nah," she confessed. " _That_ was improv."

He smiled at her while shaking his head. "You didn't hesitate, you didn't waste a step, didn't even seem nervous... I'm sure a long way from your level! I mean, just _look_ at me." He extended his right hand in front of him to show her how it was trembling. "I'm a wreck right now, and all I've done is _watch_ you!"

Yuno took his hand in hers and gave him a gentle smile. "Don't compare us," she said quietly. "I love you for being _you._ I don't need you to be like me." Her smile fell a little as she joked, "Honestly, who'd want want to be like me _anyway_?" Her voice cracked on the last word as though she had choked on it.

Yuki seemed to frown more with his eyes than his mouth as he looked at her, feeling pained. _Oh god, she knows_ , he realized. _She knows something is wrong with her. She may not remember everything that happens, but she_ knows _she's screwed in the head. She_ knows _she's not okay._ Feeling a swell of empathy, he put his other hand out and wrapped both his hands around hers. Yuno gasped lightly, and her face shifted into a look of shock that was punctuated by a gentle blush. "Don't say stuff like that," he told her. "You're all kinds of cool, all right? You're one of the most popular girls in school - well, you _were_ , before we had to change schools. Either way, you're definitely _my_ hero. That's all that matters, right?"

Yuno's smile returned, brighter than ever. "Oh, Yuki... " she said affectionately. Tears seemed to glisten at the edge of her eyes. "As long as I've got you with me, I feel like I can take on anything," she declared. "And if you still want to learn how I work, I'll keep on trying to explain it."

"I appreciate that," Yuki said back. He found himself looking closely at the moisture in her eyes, entranced. _I don't know why, but ... she really means it, too. She means exactly what she says about me_ , he reminded himself. He was still shocked by what he saw in her phone back during the Omakata cult incident, but it proved beyond any doubt that her feelings were legitimate whether he understood them or not. _She may still have her secret_ _s, and I definitely don't feel comfortable with them, but... her feelings for me? Those are real._ _  
_

"Now come on," Yuno said suddenly, interrupting his thoughts. She turned and looked down the street before adding with a strange amount of cheer, "Pretty sure I know where we can hide out for the night."

* * *

Investigator Masumi Nishijima was normally pleased to see Aru Akise walk through the doors of Sakurami Police HQ. Akise had become something of an unofficial understudy to him — although in truth, the boy's inherent detective skills probably taught Nishijima more things than he could ever hope to teach him in return.

At the moment, however, the sight of Akise casually strolling through the doors of police headquarters in the middle of the night only served to exasperate Nishijima. Haltingly, he told the boy, "Akise, you really can't be here right now."

Akise's just smiled his cool, relaxed smile. "I take it you're busy hunting Amano and Gasai," he said softly.

Nishijima blanched. "Wh-how did you-"

"I'll tell you what I know," Akise offered, "If you'll tell me some things in return."

He only needed a few seconds to think it over. "All right, let's talk," Nishijima agreed. "Let me grab a conference room."

* * *

Aru Akise leaned back in the rolling chair at the long, polished-wood table, crossing his legs comfortably as he put his feet up on an adjoining chair. Nishijima sat at a diagonal from Akise and had his notebook laying before him. The room was nicely carpeted and clean, with a large picture window gazing out over the parking lot. In contrast to the calm confidence that the younger boy was displaying, the adult detective was the picture of anxiety and concern.

"You first," Nishijima requested, albeit without much force behind his words. "Please."

With a sideways glance at the older man, Akise pulled a 500-yen coin out of pocket and started to roll it between his right fingers. He closed his eyes and smiled as he began, "You know how I like to listen into the police radio band."

"And you know that I really wish you didn't," Nishijima retorted sourly.

Akise shrugged and smiled gently. "At any rate, I heard some coded messages going around that sounded rather frantic. The descriptions of the two perpetrators sounded familiar, however. Well, the female in particular — not too many girls with twin pink ponytails running around our little 'burg. Then the local 11 p.m. news came on, and I saw the reports about the two teenage fugitives that broke out of police custody. That's when it all clicked. Gasai and Amano are classmates of mine, so I took it upon myself to swing by their respective homes. Sure enough, both of them had unmarked police cars waiting out front." He tilted his head to the side a bit, flashing a larger, knowing smile. "Rather _obviously_ , I might add. You might want to adjust your departmental stakeout techniques."

Nishijima let out a small groan. "Okay," he said. "But even taking the descriptions into account, why would you assume your classmates were the same people from the news?"

Akise stopped fiddling with his coin before he told the older detective, "Both of them have been at the center of a number of major incidents over the past few months. Uryuu Minene's attack on a school? Amano was a key player. The Omakata cult? Same story for him _and_ Gasai. That was soon followed by a break-in and scuffle between Gasai and an unknown assailant at Amano's house. I had Amano pegged as the target of some psychopath's ire before he'd even transitioned to my school."

Nishijima said nothing for a moment. He just shifted his jaw. "And now that you know that he's run from police custody, do you still think he's just a target?" he asked.

Akise's smile dimmed. "I do," he replied. "So tell me something: Why does the department seem to be treating this more seriously than the ongoing pursuit of a known terrorist?" A tiny smirk emerged from the side of his mouth. "I understand that they broke out of your own station, and yes, I'm sure that's very embarrassing. Yet I've seen far more patrols canvassing the streets this morning than I've seen since the day after Uryuu Minene first popped up in town."

Nishijima frowned. "You know how seriously we take it when members of the force are shot," he answered.

Akise's expression immediately fell grim. He swung his feet back onto the floor and leaned forward at the table. "How many officers?" he asked.

The older detective looked around somewhat nervously before muttering, "Two."

Akise pocketed his coin once more. "Alive?"

"Yes, thankfully," Nishijima confirmed. "One of them was my direct superior. The other was a beat cop who took one in the gut."

"About the shooter," Akise began. He paused and swallowed before guessing, "It was Gasai, wasn't it?"

At this, Nishijima looked slightly puzzled. "She, ah, took the most shots, that's true. But she only got one of the two cops — Detective Kurusu. Amano did the other." Akise's head lowered. The smile was gone, but he said nothing. "Now you've got me curious," Nishijima pressed. "Why'd you pick Gasai as the primary culprit? I assume you know more about them than you've let on."

"You assume correctly," Akise replied. "They're recent friends. I figured Gasai would be the main aggressor because frankly, she's unstable," Akise replied. "I had thought... " He cut himself off as he realized something. "Hold on a moment. Was Gasai the first to take aggressive action?"

"Yes," Nishijima conceded. "But so what?"

Akise looked Nishijima in the eyes. "You separated the two of them, didn't you?" he suggested.

"Of course we did," Nishijima said. "That's standard procedure. We were questioning Yuki alone when she-"

"That must be the key," Akise interrupted. "I believe Yukiteru's presence is what keeps her stable. Perhaps the agitation of having him gone and in possible danger is what set off this violent episode of hers."

"That's one hell of an 'episode,'" Nishijima deadpanned.

"No doubt," Akise agreed grimly. "I wasn't clear on how much of a danger she posed until now. Regardless, I _do_ know that Amano wouldn't hurt a fly, given the choice."

"I've got a man hooked up to an IV a few blocks from here who could tell you otherwise," Nishijima said pointedly, frowning. "I saw him take the shot myself. Although... " He sighed, turning back to look at the window. "I admit he seemed to be firing out of fear. I wouldn't call it a malicious attack. Kid was scared half to death."

Akise put a hand on the side of his head, propping himself up by his elbow. "And Gasai?" he asked. "Were you there to see her gunshots as well?"

Nishijima closed his eyes as he turned his face back towards Akise, then shook his head. "I didn't see her shoot Kurusu, if that's what you're asking." He opened his eyes again before he went on. "I was there when she took a few potshots at the officers pursuing them later, but those shots all missed broadly enough that I suspect she didn't _want_ to hit anybody."

Akise looked skeptical. "It's just as likely that she's a lousy shot," he countered. "I severely doubt she'd have experience wielding a firearm at her age."

"Tell that to Kurusu," Nishijima said back. "She got him in the head, if you can believe that. Lucky for him that it was just a graze."

Akise's eyes widened and his usual confidence vanished. "Impressive," he acknowledged with evident surprise. "Surely it was a lucky shot?"

"She followed it up with multiple hits to the center of his chest," Nishijima stated flatly. "Just off of dead center, right where his heart would be. All stopped by his vest, thankfully. Even so, it's clear she knew exactly what she was doing." Akise raised one hand to his chin in thought as he considered the information. Nishijima continued: "Now that we've established _that_ much, care to tell me what you know about them?"

Without moving, his eyes flitted up to meet Nishijima's. "There isn't as much to tell as you might like," Akise said. "As I said, we only recently became friends. I know enough to say that Amano is a good man who is more intelligent than he realizes and that Gasai is struggling with some kind of mental illness. I'm certainly not a doctor, so I have no room to diagnose what's going on with her. At the very least, she suffers from a selective memory and a tendency towards violent behavior — particularly where Yukiteru is involved."

Nishijima's face fell in concern. "Abusive?" he ventured.

Akise shook his head. "Extremely protective," he clarified. "Anyone who puts Yuki into perceived danger incurs her wrath. I wager that's why she flew off the handle earlier tonight. None of this is to say that I've ever known her to use a gun or shoot anyone before, mind you."

"At least that gives us some idea of how to approach her and negotiate," Nishijima said. He looked out the window of the conference room.

The boy's eyelids lowered. "By the way," he inquired, "Why _did_ you bring them in?"

Nishijima looked back at Akise uncertainly. "They're suspects in an ongoing investigation," he said flatly. "I can't say more at the moment."

"Must be a pretty serious investigation," Akise theorized. "And if Gasai pulled a gun on a police officer, I wager she was afraid for either her or Yuki's life. You planned to charge them with homicide, then?"

Nishijima shook his head. "Sorry, guessing can't help you here. I can't bring you in very far on this one," he warned. "I'm not even the lead detective. I appreciate the information you're sharing now, but I've already given you more details than I should've. Full-on co-operation? That's not my call to make."

"That would be up to your superior, then?" Akise inquired. "Detective Kurusu?"

"That's right," Nishijima confirmed. "And I wouldn't recommend asking him for permission to consult, either. He's wound _really_ tightly on this one. Even before Gasai fired on him, he was hell-bent on bringing these two down."

Akise mouth narrowed to a thin horizontal line. "That's disappointing," he said, stonefaced.

"It's probably for the best," Nishijima said as he finally let a smile emerge on his face. "For you, I mean. Your existing relationship with the suspects would probably make you a 'biased resource' in the chief's eyes." He scribbled some final notes in his pad.

"Pity," Akise said. He glanced down at the floor for a moment before he looked back up and said, "Before we wrap up here, you should know that I did see them just last night," Akise noted. "Before you brought them in, of course."

The older man immediately looked up and gave Akise his full attention. "Did anything seem off to you?" he asked.

Akise chuckled grimly. "Plenty of things were off," he said with a tight smile. "For one thing, Amano said this was his second time at her house, but Gasai had no recollection of the previous visit. However, if you're asking whether they gave any evidence of being involved in a crime yesterday? No, nothing like that. They didn't act any more strangely than usual during the previous week in class, either. If it helps at all, I know where they spent nearly all of yesterday."

"Oh?" Nishijima asked. "Where?"

"That Wedding Expo going on at the convention center," Akise said, smirking.

Nishijima legitimately smiled at this. "Seriously?" he said, stifling a laugh. "At their age?!"

Akise grinned innocently and shrugged. "Takes all kinds."

* * *

Yuno was climbing a metal staircase on the outside of a concrete building. A sign out front labeled this structure the "Sakurami City Chrome Plating Factory." It seemed to be dark inside, and Yuki was comfortable with that. He was a lot less comfortable when he saw the yellow "Police Line" tape surrounding the exterior door that Yuno was approaching.

"It's a crime scene?!" Yuki yelped.

Yuno looked back at him with a smile. "That's what makes this such a smart hiding spot," she told him. "The cops are never gonna think that we'd go someplace they're already investigating. Even better? This crime scene is already a couple of weeks old! Not much chance they'll come by to review it again in the middle of the night."

Yuki was torn. On the one hand, Yuno usually knew what she was talking about. And yet, something in the back of his mind was bugging him about this place. "If it's been weeks, why is it still taped off?" he asked.

"Because the cops still haven't caught Ninth," Yuno told him, half-shrugging. "I guess they're still hoping to trip over some amazing clue."

The mention of Ninth made Yuki stumble a step backwards. "Minene was here... ?" he said, half-gasping as he spoke. "But why-" He cut himself off an instant later when his memory caught up to the conversation. _That's why this place was bugging me,_ he realized. "I heard about this," he said aloud, suddenly focusing. "It was on the news one morning, around the time when mom came into town. Ninth robbed this factory, right?"

"Good memory!" Yuno confirmed with a grin of pride for her beloved. "Ninth nabbed some hydrocyanic acid here, and she wasn't stealthy about it. There was a run-in with a security guard and everything.."

Yuki looked back, taking in the parking lot between the sign and the building. A few moths fluttered around the florescent light emanating from a light pole. "Acid... " he mused aloud. "I really hope she's not building acid bombs for her next attack."

"It's also super poisonous," Yuno advised him, suddenly frowning. "Poisons aren't her style normally, but we should be careful just in case." She pulled her phone out of her pocket and winked at him. "Luckily, I've always got the scoop on whether my sweetie's food is safe!"

Yuki smiled weakly at her, then looked down at his own phone.

"6/12 23:57 p.m.

Yuno managed to force the door open. The inside of the factory seems deserted. No lights are on."

At least that gave him peace of mind. "My diary doesn't say anything about us running into any trouble here," he announced. "I guess you were right again. But if they have security guards, shouldn't somebody be here already?"

Yuno ignored him for the moment. Instead, she flipped her phone shut and leaned back against the railing with both hands, then performed a straight front kick with her right leg, slamming the flat of her foot against the right side of the metal door with a noisy _fwamp_. The door held fast.

" _Stop_ ," Yuki hissed. _Fwamp_. Yuno ignored him. "What the hell, Yuno?! What if someone hears you?!" he implored.

Yuno paused and glanced at her phone, then held it up to him. "According to this, you're fine," she said. "Nobody is going to hear us."

"And how do you know that you're not going to change the future with the next kick?" Yuki continued. "Or the one after that?"

"Because intent matters," Yuno explained with a cool, confident smile. "If I intend to keep kicking this thing until the lock gives, our diaries will account for that!" Her voice went sotto as she finished, "Well, up until I change my mind anyway... "

Yuki frowned slightly, sighing as he pulled out his own phone.

 _Fwamp._

"I'm starting to realize these things seem to have a lot of logical loopholes," he muttered as he looked at the display.

 _Fwamp._

Yuki scratched the side of his head as he scrolled through his diary. "It's giving us the diary entries we'd be writing in the future," he mumbled, "But then we never write those entries because they're already there, so we never had to write them... so they weren't _actually_ part of our future, really?"

 _Fwamp._ "Almost got it!" Yuno said happily.

Yuki ignored her. "So where do the diary entries really come from?" he pondered aloud.

Yuno paused her assault on the door and smiled. "From Deus?" she suggested, shrugging. "Look, don't overthink it." With a grunt, Yuno kicked the door as hard as she could. _FWOMP!_ It was the last hit necessary to force the door wide open, causing it to swing wide with a rusty-sounding _creeaaak._ Yuno looked back at Yuki with a triumphant smile and raised a fist a victory, but Yuki was focused on the dark room within.

"No alarm," Yuki observed, his face scrunched with worry. "And didn't you mention security guards?"

"Evidently, they only had the one," Yuno said. "A man nearing retirement." She opened her phone once more and scanned through her diary entries. "Maybe he went ahead and retired, or maybe he's still on some kind of leave after the encounter with Ninth." Looking back at Yuki, she said, "Either way, there's nothing in my diary that says you're going to run into any trouble."

"Yeah," Yuki agreed while peering at his own phone. "Okay. Guess we'll go in... "

Naturally, Yuno headed in first. She kept her phone open and pointed the screen forward to illuminate the room around them. Once he'd stepped inside and swung the door closed behind him, Yuki did the same with his cell phone. As he did so, he took a moment to peer longingly at the light switch by the door.

As if in answer to his thoughts, Yuno said, "Look for a way into the basement, or maybe an interior room. We just need someplace where we can turn on the lights without anyone noticing from the street."

"S-sure," Yuki replied. He was still looking around the room nervously. "There's a row of security monitors in here, but nothing's turned on. Do you think whatever cameras they have here are still recording?"

Yuno shrugged nonchalantly. "Hard to say," she answered. "Even if they are, we'll be long gone before anybody sees the footage." She stopped looking around when the light from her phone fell onto something hanging on the far wall. It was a rectangular, framed something-or-other that was placed beside a doorway that led deeper into the facility. "Check it out!" she announced as she walked towards the framed image. "I found one of those emergency maps that give directions in case of a fire or a typhoon or whatever. From this, it looks like there's a stairwell not too far down this hallway."

"Guess it's a start," Yuki said agreeably. "I just hope we don't run into a bunch of locked doors along the way."

She smiled with warmth and confidence. "If I can force my way through an exterior door, I can definitely bust through anything inside, too! But if we come across something extra tough, I've always got this," she finished as she pulled the pistol from her waist.

Yuki instinctively flinched as soon as she whipped it out. "Is that really a good idea?" he asked with a nervous chuckle. "I mean, someone might hear it, right? And you could shoot at a metal lock with it, and the bullet might just-" He pointed with one finger and jerked it suddenly in a zizag to indicate a wild ricochet.

Yuno giggled. "You're _too_ adorable," she enthused. "But nothing like that is gonna happen! Of _course_ we'll check our diaries before either of us starts shooting, for one thing." She regarded the gun in her hand. "That would be enough to warn us of any ricochet dangers, too, but I don't expect any. This is a Smith  & Wesson .38 Special. The police use these mostly for the stopping power they provide at close range. Trust me: Even if I fire one at a metal lock from point blank, it's gonna blast right through."

While Yuno was still rotating the gun a bit and looking it over with something resembling admiration, Yuki stared at her in total bewilderment. He swallowed, afraid to ask the question on his mind, but he couldn't hold back: "Wh-why... _how_ do you know that?" he inquired hoarsely.

Yuno's attention was quickly pulled away from her weapon once he started to talk, but if she felt any concern at the anxiety in his voice, she didn't let it show. "Oh, no big reason," she said casually. "Mom and dad worked in finance, so they had a lot of security guards on the payroll. Sometimes they'd teach me stuff if I had to tag along to the office." She almost appeared to freeze after speaking, continuing to smile without moving.

The eerie light of their cell phones made the moment feel even more uncomfortable for Yuki than it would've already been. "These guards," he continued, "They used the same guns as the police?"

"Yup," Yuno confirmed. "A lot of them used to be cops, so they stuck with what they knew." She turned at this point and finally looked away from him so she could lean through the nearby doorway, peering into the hall.

"Oh," Yuki said. "Did they also... I mean, is that also how you learned to-"

Yuno whipped her head back around and giggled again. "To shoot, you mean?" she finished for him, looking weirdly childlike.

"Well, yeah," Yuki said sheepishly.

"Pretty much," Yuno confirmed. "I mean, I wasn't _supposed_ to be handling the guns, but... " She smiled innocently and giggled once more.

Yuki was left watching her face with equal parts curiosity and confusion. _Is she telling the truth?_ Yuki wondered. _How can I know? I mean, I guess it's... kind of plausible for Yuno... but for most people, that'd sound-_

"You think that's pretty weird, don't you?" Yuno suggested, interrupting his thoughts. She looked down at the floor shyly, folding her hands behind her back as she did so. "Can't say I blame you."

"I wouldn't say 'weird' exactly," Yuki said haltingly. "It's definitely... unusual." _And i_ _rresponsible, incomprehensible, unnerving..._ "But uh, 'unusual' is... part of your charm?" Despite how uncertain the words sounded, he wasn't lying. _Strange as she is, that's... somehow part of what makes her so interesting..._ _  
_

Yuno beamed at him. "Thank you, Yuki," she said with a soft sincerity. With that, she swept out of the room. Yuki swiftly moved to follow her.

As they went down the hall, Yuki's light shined on Yuno's twin ponytails as they bounced lightly with each step. "Speaking of your parents and their job," Yuki said, "What are they like?"

Yuno pointed her phone to the right and left as she went, finally stopping in front of a brown, meal door with a rectangular window in it. As she turned the doorknob, she answered, "Um... they work hard." Her voice lilted upward a bit on the last word.

Yuki heard the shift in her tone and decided to press further. "Have you heard from them lately? When are they going to be back from their fundraising trip?"

Yuno opened the windowed door to reveal a stairwell. It was awash in dim, red emergency lighting that was emanting from a lights on each landing: One long LED light on the landing directly before them, another one affixed to the wall on the landing down and to their right, and so on.

"Going down!" Yuno announced, amusing herself.

Yuki only half-smiled. "Uh, Yuno?" he pressed. "Your folks... when will they be back?"

Yuno started to enter the stairwell, but she paused. "I dunno," she said in a monotone.

Yuno entered, once again using her phone to illuminate her path. She turned it around and viewed the screen for a few seconds to verify that the future seemed clear before flipping it back outward. Then she turned and lit used it to light the stairs on her right as she began to step down them.

Yuki followed her lead, watching his step with his phone. "Do you ever hear from them?" Yuki continued. "I mean... do you guys talk, at least?"

Yuno turned and looked up at Yuki on the stairs. There, illuminated by the red LED light of the landing, she smiled contentedly. "Of course," she told him. "We talk almost every night."

He smiled back at her. "I'm glad to hear that," he said genuinely.

 _I guess there are still a few things about Yuno that are semi-_ _normal_ , Yuki thought.

* * *

 **Hi everyone! I'm sorry for the long hiatus, but I don't believe in abandoning stories. Despite all that has happened to delay me until now, I'm still going to try and get this thing to an end state. That will require maybe two more chapters after this one, so hey - that's past the halfway point now.**

 **I enjoy putting a lot of references to various parts of the continuity into these stories, so I thought I'd take a moment to point a few out for the few out there who may not have noticed how much of a continuity dork I'm being:  
**

 **\- I use a lot of the 'pet names' that Yuno uses in the English dub. I always liked that touch in that version, because I firmly believe that Yuno probably did spend a lot of her time stalking Yuki fantasizing about what they'd call each other when they were together. :) So if you aren't familiar with this quirk, it's probably because it isn't present in the Japanese version of the anime. It's somewhat present in the manga, but to a far lesser degree.**

 **\- Right before they fall off the roof in the actual manga chapter/anime episode, Yuki's inner monologue is wracked with guilt that he didn't fight harder to keep Yuno under control. That's why I have him pull a gun on her when he thinks she's going off the deep end in Chapter 2; it's a callback to that character bit regarding him blaming himself for not fighting her madness.**

 **\- This chapter starts handling one of the things I wanted to address with this story: The question of "Where are Akise and the others during this whole Kurusu Heel-Turn arc?" Akise in particular is going to be heavily inclined to get involved given that he already has a relationship with a police and a strong desire to protect Yuki, right? (This is also a fun time to check in with him during the overall story because it's in the _very short_ window where Akise and Yuno only have minor gripes with each other and are _trying_ to stay on good terms.)**

 **\- The Chrome Plating Factory is from _Future Diary: Mosaic_ 's third chapter. That's the chapter where Minene performed the chemical robbery our two leads discuss, for those of you who haven't read it.**

 **\- Yuno's explanation for the fact that intent affects the diaries seems like something that needed to be in the manga at least, because otherwise how did Yuki pull the cool trick he does to get the password for Eleventh's Vault? (In the anime, this is circumvented entirely; he just threatens someone with his gun to get them to cough the password up.)**

 **\- Yuno's parents being on a 'fundraising business trip' is the given explanation for why Yuno lives alone in the manga, so that's where that came from. The anime never actually discusses where her parents are supposed to be until we learn the truth of it, though.**

 **Okay, enough of my yammering. I have a Yunoteru-focused blog over on Tumblr now, for anyone interested. It's at yunoteru4ever dot tumblr dot com if you want to swing by.**

 **I'll see you here next time, whenever that may come. Hopefully it won't be as long between chapters as it was between chapter 2 and this one.**


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